Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

2 June 2017

Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts:

There are few victories in sailing where the accomplishment is notably bigger than the sailors that win it. College sailing is the exception, where success comes from the reserves pushing the starters, the legacy provided by alumni, and the support of the coaches and school.

Upwards of 150 boats are expected to compete in the 163rd Annual Regatta presented by Rolex, kicking off the Newport, RI sailing season on June 9 to 11. This year, the focus will be on one boat in particular as the latest offering from Nautor’s Swan, the ClubSwan 50, makes its New England debut. Full report.

You’re in a tough season of life; there are stresses upon you and many demands. Life’s not even fair the majority of the time. In the mix of the mess of life we can laugh humbly at the sheer enormity of it all, finding a way where nothing can deter us. Yes, this can be achieved!

Recalling the Rose Tattoo song, Bound for Glory, we’re in this life and bound for glory if we’ll only cooperate with our circumstances and resist the nagging, weakening voice within, moving on to the next thing, a distraction even. And the words to the song also help us if we’re aware of them at the time.

From a deeply personal viewpoint we can categorically say, ‘I’m alive,’ and we’ll often look back, able to say, ‘I’ve survived.’ It’s only afterward that we can indeed say with the tiniest shred of confidence, ‘Life’s tough, so what!’ as we consider what is now before us-the next challenge, drudgery or tribulation.

The warrior’s destiny, as Angry Anderson puts it, is glory, like it or not. And we should all see ourselves as warriors in this life-that’s how God sees us, I’m sure-it’s up to us. We’re all pitted against our natural desires and we all have to get used to many tough realities.

Anderson continues, “I’ve learned these lessons at the school of hard knocks…,” and in a sense we’ve all known life to be a school of hard knocks. This life doesn’t chew us up and spit us out as we might suppose (not normally anyway), but it does grind away at us, weakening our resolve to become the people we ought to become.

When we’ve got the resolve of glory we can’t be held down and nothing can hold us back. We recognise that the pain makes us strong. We find that it’s the hard things that define us.